Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Last Night Best Player - Marc-Andre Fleury

NIKALE PHOTOS

Pitsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have to make many saves, but several of his 23 stops were of the highlight-reel variety. A second-period leg-pad save against Jussi Jokinen and a late save on Eric Staal from the doorstep were among the denied chances that will have the Hurricanes shaking their heads long into the night.

"He was big for us," Crosby said. "We didn't get the start we wanted. They got some quality chances early on. Usually when you are at home, you're not talking about weathering the storm, but he did that for us tonight.""We had two breakdowns in the first period and they resulted in two goals, which was tough, but I thought our game was there and we created a lot of offense and Fleury made some huge saves, especially in the first period," Carolina's Eric Staal said."Both goaltenders played really well tonight," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "Our guy was very good. He made a couple of key saves for us at different times in the game when Carolina was carrying the play or had good chances. This is the time of the year you need that from your goaltender and Marc-Andre certainly gave us that tonight."